- A traditional sailing vessel of Kerala
I went to Kochi and visited the museums and churches in the area. I visited two museums: the Kochi Museum and the Indian Naval museum.
The Kochi museum was pretty disappointing. Most of the pictures taken were from there, and it definitely gives insights into the time period and history, but the lens through which the museum decided to tell history was lacking.
For example, the entirety of the history was structured in a way that it derived significance from foreign powers and foreign recognition. The museum did not have sizable artifacts or paintings, and relied on prints, tables, colonial and orientalist drawings and models of ships to tell the history of Kochi. Furthermore, the focus seemed to be less on the actual history of the kings of the state, and more on how European powers attained their colonial possessions. The focus was shifted to the history of foreign rulers in Kerala, which was disappointing. The lack of artifacts, memorabilia or exhibits also reflected the relative poverty of museums in India, the majority of artifacts remaining in the coffers of British and other imperialistic powers' museums.
Another reason why the museum exhibit was disappointing was that there were many orientalist and racist depictions of 'native' people of Kerala. It reinforced racist stereotypes and put a spotlight on an inaccurate, problematic retelling of history. I do not understand why the museum decided to go with these depictions, considering the low accuracy, and stereotypical portrayal of people in the artwork. It is true that there is a relative lack of indigenous artwork during the time period, but the lack of any mention of the Travancore Raja, the Zamorins and the history of Jewish and Christian settlements in India was disappointing.
However, it did do some things right. It had accurate models of sailing ships, it had exhibits depicting the architectural advancements of the time period. It also housed cooking implements and other displays that shedded light on Kerala's history.
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